In our list of India's Best 50 - the 50 Most Employable Students from the Class of 2020-22, we feature MBA students who have walked that extra mile and done that little more to stand out! One of those featured in today's story, Abhijay Giri, has shown an incredible amount of passion to achieve his true potential. Read on and find out his story!The following are Abhijay Giri’s set of responses to a questionnaire floated amongst MBA graduates to determine the top-50 Most Employable MBA Graduates of the Class of 2022. Amongst the massive number of entries and responses being evaluated, Abhijay's story and profile stood out. Here's his story in his own words.Name an instance where you wanted something and went out of your comfort zone to achieve it OR Tell us the biggest risk you have taken so far in your life.The biggest risk I have taken in my life so far has been to take up a role in sales right out of my undergraduate programme. I was a student of Chemical Engineering at BITS Pilani Goa Campus. I believe I had built a good technical profile with an 8+ CGPA and had also done good research work which would have enabled me to get a good admit to a university abroad for a Masters programme. However, while I felt that I had the right profile, I knew that a life in engineering would not satisfy me as a person. I wanted something which would put me right out of my comfort zone and help me grow as a person. Around the same time, one of the companies visiting the campus was Reliance Industries Limited who were recruiting for their GET (Sales) programme for their Petrochemicals business. I decided that I would apply for this role and appear for the process and see how it would work out. I went ahead with the process and was one of the candidates shortlisted. I remember coming out of the first interview of the process and telling my parents that I don't think I can make it and I would probably not be a good fit for the role either. However, when I got to know that I cleared the first round of interviews, I knew this could happen. I interviewed for the second round where there was a panel of 5 all holding high positions in the company who were cross-questioning me constantly. I gave it my best shot and answered as freely and as comfortably as I could. I almost forgot it was an actual interview (while the frank conversation helped me get the job I feel, in hindsight it wasn't perhaps the correct strategy and I have been mindful of it) and we had a beautiful conversation about my thoughts on dealing with clients and what the company can do differently in order to convert sales the right way. I was selected for the job. The next 3 years saw me cover the length and breadth of Maharashtra along with various plant visits and customer visits along with multiple activities. I gained command over my territories and my customers and dealers and was able to catch the pulse of the market to make business calls. I truly changed 180 degrees after my time at Reliance. I could have had a decent career in research too, but I took the risk of pivoting to something I truly loved and wanted to do which would help me grow much faster. I left Reliance as a Manager of Regional Sales in Maharashtra. When I look back, I just think of that scared boy who entered the corporate world and who left it (for the time being only to return post his MBA) as a much more mature person who can get things done. I will always be thankful to myself for having taken this risk and being able to see it through.When was the last time someone relied on you? OR What did you do which was purely for someone else - a truly selfless act.I think the one selfless act that I can think of which stays close to me even though it was something that happened in 10th grade was when I didn't help my friend in the middle of an ongoing exam. To add more context to it, it was the Math pre-boards and this friend of mine wanted my help in the middle of the exam to solve a question. I chose not to help him because in principle I do not believe in the idea of cheating in any form. After the exam, my friend told me that he was angry and he was worried that he might not get his Boards admit card from the school if he didn't clear the marks cut-off we had in our school. I assured him that this rule is something most likely done by the school to have students prepare well for the Boards. My friend was still angry that I didn't help him during the exam. However, after the exam for the next few days, I sat down with him and tried to convince him to let me teach him Math for boards so that when the real exam comes up, he is able to do well. I would sit with him during recess and explain concepts from algebra, geometry, etc. and make him solve problems, and guide him if he got stuck. My friend eventually improved and got more confident with the subject. He started doing the problems and past year question papers well. Finally, he ended up scoring really good marks in the actual Board exam. After the results, he did reach out to me in person and thanked me for the help and for not telling him the answer in that Math pre-board exam. I believe this is a selfless act that has stuck with me and has always helped me keep myself and those around me on the right path in life. I cannot actually call it a selfless act because it has given me valuable learning that of effort and hard-work yielding results.Tell us about a time when you disagreed with an opinion/idea/decision. What did you do about it?This is related to my work experience in sales where my regional office team management was initially not agreeing to allot a separate warehouse for a dealer that I was working with. They said that while the dealer has potential, he will not be able to commit to the volumes every month, and hence it would not be a good investment. They rejected my proposal initially. But I had faith in the dealer because he had helped us make sales in some difficult times and the dealer had a vision and I could see that it would work. So what I instead asked the management was to allot a fixed space to my dealer in the company warehouses for a period of 2-3 months and see the kind of turnaround that he would do with the space and the volume allocation given. If there is consistency and a healthy turnover then they can relook at their decision of not giving them a separate warehouse. I was able to get approval for this. Over the course of the next 3 months, my dealer was able to show consistency in the required metrics and outperform them on a national level. The management was pleased with this, and a proposal for their warehouse was passed.What is the one thing you can claim to have some level of expertise or depth of knowledge in - it could be anything - a subject, a sport, a hobby, a venture, an initiative which has led you to do deep work in that field?The one field I feel I have been closely involved in and which I feel I have also tried to get some level of expertise in is the field of problem-solving. Not the regular problem solving like in Maths, Physics or the likes but business problem-solving. I was exposed to this after the first year of my engineering while I was interning with AstraZeneca where I came across the concept of Lean Manufacturing and some of the tools which are used for business problem solving like 5 whys, Fishbone diagrams, etc. I was so intrigued by this that I went on to further pursue certification in Lean Six Sigma Methodology by KPMG. I completed the Yellow Belt and Green Belt programs. It has definitely added a new dimension to my personality and my approach to the business problems I have faced in my work experience or also during my business school studies and case competitions. However, I also believe that this is a work in progress because we only get better at problem-solving by solving more problems. My ambition for my next 5 years post my MBA is to be exposed to a diverse set of problems from different domains and post that I would use this learning to perhaps start a venture of my own after having identified a set of problems that I wish to tackle in a particular domain.If 10 Million Dollars (approximately INR 75 Crores) is given to you to use it any way you deem fit what would you do with this corpus?I would use this money to solve a problem that I saw being a part of the polymers and plastics industry as a part of my pre-MBA work experience. It is the problem of plastic waste reprocessing. Yes, not plastic waste but plastic waste reprocessing. India and many parts of the world have this industry within the plastics regime which reconverts disposed plastic waste of cities into products like plastic pipes, sheets, fixtures, toys, and many more such items. However, in India, this industry is not recognized (one of the largest hubs in India is present in Malegaon, Nashik) and it is not given impetus. It currently operates more as an illegal industry primarily because of the way of sourcing the waste and also the health hazards and conditions of those working in it. I would utilize this money to try and set up a reprocessing park that is recognized under various government schemes to help give impetus to this industry and tell the world that the plastic thrown by them can come back in a very different but useful form to them. This money would be directed in the following domains infrastructure, safety equipment for workers, hazardous gas disposal systems, and further for obtaining licensing and other legalities associated with such an initiative. In my view, plastics are so deeply rooted in the modern-day and they are known as magic materials however, their disposal and recycling have always been a concern and perhaps reprocessing plastics can be a solution that can be tested on a pilot scale in a more formal and recognized way before making it a nationwide phenomenon.Any Other Comments Or Factors You Would Like To Highlight About Yourself? Placement Coordinator, SPJIMR (Present): Elected Head of Marketing placement team | Responsible for placements of 238 students of PGDMNational Winner, P&G CEO Challenge (2021): Stood 1/570 teams | Represented India at IMEA Regional FinalsNovartis Biotechnology Leadership Camp (2021): Selected to Novartis Biotechnology Leadership Camp | Among 48 selected out of 1700+ applicantsDare2Compete Awards (2021): Ranked among Top 10 College Champions of SPJIMR for performance across business competitionsScriptwriter and Actor, GASP'21 (Theatre): Conceptualized, penned, and acted in the play 'Crossroads' for the SPJIMR in-house theatre productionHPAIR Asia Conference (2015): Delegate at Harvard Project for Asian and International Relations Conference, Entrepreneurship PanelCofounder, TIP - BITS Goa (2016): Led a team of 15 to mentor 800+ students in projects | Organization has impacted 2000+ studentsCore Member, Nirmaan Org. (NGO) (2015): Part of Notebook Project, donated refurbished notebooks | Helped organize Joy of Giving WeekResearch Paper Publication in Journal of Cleaner Production: Garnered 15+ citations | Developed process designs for converting biogas to methanol (https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0959652619301908)All India Rank, GATE: Secured All India Rank 393 out of 14542 candidates in GATE 2017, Chemical Engineering ExamKPMG Green Belt Lean Six Sigma (2015): Completed requirement of Green Belt in Lean Six Sigma MethodologyRead the stories of the other Employable Graduates here!